US scientists have noted minimal ice formation this winter in the Arctic, with only 34,000 square kilometers’ growth per day in January compared to more than twice that rate in the 1980s.

Warmer temperatures were observed to be a contributing factor in the slowed ice growth. US National Snow and Ice Data Center Director Dr. Mark Serreze cautioned that such a winter phenomenon would likely mean a bigger summer melt, stating that this year’s winter ice would create only a thin layer that takes less energy to melt the following summer.

This process in turn exposes additional areas of darker ocean waters, which absorb more heat than the reflective ice and accelerate melting even further.

Dr. Mark Serreze: We will probably see, for example, an accelerated hydrologic cycle, because we were talking earlier that you warm it up, you put more water vapor into the atmosphere. Well water vapor fuels storms. So you would have, for example, more and more severe weather events.

Many thanks, Dr. Serreze and colleagues at the US National Snow and Ice Data Center, for this vital information about the disappearing Arctic ice. As we all realize the danger of the Earth’s changing climate, let us make united steps toward lifestyles that return stability to our planet.

Speaking as on previous occasions with concern for our planet’s urgent state, Supreme Master Ching Hai emphasized during a September 2009 videoconference in Japan the dangers posed by such melting, while offering the most effective solution.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE6135TD20100204